Two weeks of term and a some pictures to make up for the silence

Sorry about last week—I had every intention of writing, but after a busy weekend off and then a wonderful but intense two hour conversation with some visitors from CMML, it just didn’t happen. Nothing of much note happened during the second week of term; I taught and marked, worked a lot on getting Christmas music together, and had a good handwork class with my grade 3 & 4 girls. Week three however, included one of our major term events—birthday party.

The theme was bugs and creepy crawlies, so there was some wonderful artwork in the dining hall, cakes were decorated, and instead of a show we watched the first part of A Bug’s Life. While the kids had a great time, it was a bit of an intense week for me trying to keep kids focused until birthday party, and then refocusing after their sugar crash. While it was unusually early in the term, I’m glad that it’s over! This coming week half-term starts on Friday, but the grade 7-9’s are leaving before that for their Copper Belt Sports Tour. So, I suspect Monday-Wednesday are going to be a bit crazy as I try to make sure that my 10 grade 7’s are caught up and able to go. We started statistics and permutations in math last week, and boy has it been a doozey!

Oh- one other thing of note about last week. I tried caterpillars for the first time! They weren't as hard to get down as I might have thought, but they were too 'fresh' textured for me. If they had been fried crispy they would have been better, and they didn't have an interesting enough flavor to become a regular indulgence. However, I can now say I've tried them!

September and October are somewhat difficult months because of how hot it is during the afternoons, and because of how little power is available because of water levels. All the heavy electrical work on station is via 240, so it has been an exercise in flexibility and planning to get things done in the few hours each morning and evening that we have power. We unexpectedly got 0.8mm of rain on Wednesday—between supper and the show, but we are praying that a lot more comes and soon so that the river can fill up again and the temperatures cool off a bit.

I can't remember if I've posted a good picture of the new child noise amplifier covered play area, so here is one I took this weekend, as well as pictures of the blooming jacaranda and flamboyant trees--one of the best part of this time of year.

Parting shot: Groot is almost ready to be put in a pot!